she's got a lot on her mind

As promised in my last entry, I now present to you the third, fourth, and fifth books I read this year!
3) The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen. This book was really intriguing; it's about the Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer who operated around it. It's a really strange dichotomy, the hope and progress and beauty of the fair set against the horrible desires of one man. I don't often get into history books, but this one is well written with a good narrative voice and enough personification of the historical figures discussed that I felt like I actually got to know them a bit.
4) Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This one had a slow start for me, but once things picked up thirty or forty pages in, I was hooked. I like that this isn't a typical werewolf book in any sense. I had some minor qualms with a couple of specific moments, but overall, I really enjoyed this a lot. Good, empathetic characters, interesting choices, plenty of action. There is also plenty of material here for an in-depth conversation on what family is, how it's defined, if there are different kindso f family, etc. Definitely a keeper!
5) The Good Spell Book by Gillian Kemp. This is a fun little book of Romany spells and folklore. I read it in research for my witch series, and while most of it doesn't apply to the approach I'm taking in my books, it was still an amusing read. Some of it resonated with me, some of it didn't, but I'm keeping it. For ideas, for reference, for fun.
Aside from that . . . my work computer is dying a slow death. I'm getting a new one in a couple weeks and frankly, it can't come fast enough! In the meantime I'll do a minimum of Internet at work. That seems to sit better with this poor machine.
Slowly making forward progress on writing things. I'm going to start the last round of edits on Superheroes tonight. I've got one short from last year typed, so I can print it to edit. One radio play episode should be wrapped up within the next couple of days, I'm thinking. And I've been getting things done at home, so the stress level there is going down.
There's plenty more to talk about, like dreams, and potential ideas for books, and yoga, and such, but I'll leave you with a couple of things:
New York City got more snow in January 2011 than any January in recorded history. Over 36 inches, at least. That's a LOT of snow.
Happy Imbolc, everybody! This is the holiday when we celebrate the coming of spring. It's a time of purification and dedication.
Wish me luck with my computer woes, and I'll be back soon.